I have had 1 cancellation for the April 21/22 Gulf Stream fishing school. Cost is $450 per person. If you are interested in the spot call 910 575-3474 or email captbrant@oifc.com -- first come, first serve- 1 spot only -- TX
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Capt. Brant McMullan

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Well, Chris Eckert and myself went offshore to the gulf stream yesterday in less than ideal conditions. On board the Carolina Cat were Marie and Ford Minsker from Charlotte. It was their first time to the bluewater and after having to reschedule a couple of times over the past couple of weeks, were ready to go. We pushed offshore to a completely manageable 3-4 foot wind chop out of the southwest headed towards Gene's ledge where I saw a beautiful warm water Eddy pushed off of the gulf stream. We got there to find high winds and building seas, not good... After deploying just 4 lines out of my usual 7-10, it became apparent that we were going to have our hands full. Baits were constantly skipping not only out of the water but litterally surfing down the face of the waves which by now were topping 6-8 feet consistantly... It was looking bleak when a nice wahoo crushed the left short rigger bait and tid the telltale smoker run... Hooked up... Ford did just as he was taught and left the rod in the holder till the fish slowed down from its initial run then picked it up and went to work. After an exausting 20+ minute fight with both the ocean and the fish, we boated Fords very first Wahoo a respectable 28 pounder. After just a few more minutes, we all had had enough of the conditions and the decision was made to head home... We got our gear up and realized that with the wind and seas, we were not going to be able to go to Shallotte inlet so we plugged in the Cape Fear river and headed that way at a mind numbing 12-14 kts.. After a 3 hour ride in, we got to the river. The worst part I feel is that we truly landed on the fish and had it been a little less insane with the weather, we would have absolutely worked the fish out there... This was the first really good showing of Flying Fish I have seen this year and it is all coming together. All in all, I had a wonderful time getting to know and spend time on the water with Ford and Marie and hope to have an opportunity to take them offshore under better conditions. Below is a pic of Fords very nice wahoo. Hope you enjoyed the meal.
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Capt. Steele Park

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At the risk of jinxing the weekend- it looks like Saturday is going to be very nice. We have boats open and crew ready - we want to go to the Stream --

Make-up trip for Saturday, April 14 - call (910) 575-3474 and ask for reservations- that will get you to me to set things up -- cost is $400 per person -- 4 max -- operators are standing by !!!

And just to warm you up a little-- a follow up to the Stream trips that Steele and I captained last Friday - Aboard the OIFC World Cat we spent a good majority of the day slow trolling dead Cigars in 110 feet of water near the Navy Wreck. The action has been red hot there earlier in the week including some big Wahoo, but it was definitely slower. We caught a half dozen Kings in the 8-18 pound range before getting the word from Steele that the Wahoo were biting. We set lines at the 100/400 at 12:30 and began fishing. We started slow and had to listen to Steele taunting us with reports of Wahoo and Blackfin -- but as I've learned in fishing, you can't catch them running, and almost always by the time you hear about a bite, it will be too late to get to it. So, we stuck to our guns and just as Steele was reporting the action slowing, we began picking up. We started off with a 58 pound Wahoo, then a 35, then a 25 pound King. It was not red hot, but consistent every 20 or so minutes. Then as we were making our final pass the short rod bent and splashes on the long riggers. Three rods bent, then the other short. The first short rod went slack, then the second, but the riggers stayed connected. 2 small Wahoo in the 15-20 pound range were boated-- and the two flat lines were cut as apparently a school of very hungry wahoo had attacked the trolling weights ahead of the baits and cut the lines-- it happens. Anyway, we finished strong, and I'm encouraged. Unfortunately, we got our rear ends whipped coming home as it went from near flat to 20-25kts from the NE and 4-6 foot in minutes. It happens. Unfortunately the holiday weekend did not offer conditions to get offshore, but this weekend looks like it may. We hope you will join us aboard as part of our make-up trips or we will see you out there in your own boat. Either way, let's go fishing!!

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Our inshore fishing has been tough the last few days. Thursday morning we managed to get a carolina slam, landing all three major inshore species, but they were on the small side. Thursday afternoon the wind started to howl as a front was approaching from the Norhwest. Mark Wood was determined to go fishing even in the tough conditions. We managed to put together a flounder sandwich and a couple of short trout. Trips were cancelled on Friday as weather conditions were horrible. Saturday we were back on the water. Bluefish were chewing up every mullet we threw in the water on our morning trip. We changed gears and headed East on our afternoon trip. We ended the afternoon with 4 short flounder and a couple of short strikes from trout. Assemble the troops and back to the drawing board...good news is the water continues to warm and the fishing should continue to improve. Below is a picture of a bass my niece Eva caught this weekend. See ya on the water!
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Capt. Jacob Frick

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Capt. Brandon Sauls continues to pretty much dominate backwater red drum fishing in the armature division our area. It's pretty obvious by the background the picture was taken at the Little River Jetties. The burning question is, is that where he caught his fish?

Perhaps he should consider a name change from the Bonecrusher to the Dominator.

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Once again Jeff Martini (Midtown Bistro) Is having his Hook A Hoo fishing tournament. Click on the link for details. Why don't you book a charter with the OIFC anf fish it? It's cheaper that running your own boat.

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Well, I have finally found some time to sit down and do a report from our Gulf Stream trip on Thursday. Capt. Chris "OC" Dew and I were aboard the Carolina Cat with a great group of folks that fish with us every year. One of these guys is Brad Mulahy of Team Over Equipped, a bluewater tournament team out of Bald Head Island that I fish with regularly when not running charters for the OIFC. The group was big enough this year to charter both boats and that's always fun because inevitably, there is always a mini tournament that takes place between boats. This was no exception. We left the dock expecting a slow bumpy ride offshore and were pleasantly suprised to find very nice conditions with a slight SW ground swell making it a nice ride out towards the Blackjack area. We had gotten a report of some good king fishing with some decent Wahoo's inshore of the gulf stream about 12 miles so decided to start inshore and do some slow trolling with live bait and cigar minnows. Fishing was pretty slow for us in there so after an hour or two, we made the call to push out towards the blackjack to do some good ol fashioned blue water trolling. Water temp shot was showing a nice 3 degree break a couple of miles inshore of the Blackjack so when we reached that, we stopped and deployed baits. First bait in the water gets pounded by a nice Wahoo which we promptly lost boatside. I'll take the blame for this one as I was experimenting with extra long leaders to try to draw more bites(which worked). Anyway, we redeployed and promptly doubled up on Wahoo's. Lost one, boated the other. From that point on, it was Singles, doubles and triples all day long. Lots of activity. Even had a nice Mahi on the line for a little while. Around 3 oclock, the fan turned on out of the NE, just as forecasted and the seas got UGLY.... We picked up and started working our way to the hill at a mind numbing 15-18 knots..... Took close to 3 hours to get home. As Brant and I discussed, the ride in really soured an otherwise outstanding day of fishing in the gulf stream. We ended the day with a nice haul of Wahoo's, BIG blackfins and even a Skipjack Tuna... When the dust settled, Capt. Chris and I, along with Team Over Equipped aboard the Carolina Cat won this friendly competition. The losers had to prepare a delicious fish dinner for the 25 or so people staying at the beach for Easter weekend. The Gulf Stream is Firing off and now is the time to get down here and go fishing... Brad had his GO Pro on the boat and we got some great footage both above and below the water that I will upload as soon as I can get a copy.(hint hint Brad)
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Capt. Steele Park

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Boy is it yucky today...cold and windy. Supposed to be sunny and warmer sta
rting tomorrow
Yesterday both offshore charter boats went to the Stream. II'll provide a r
eport on activity OIFC World Cat and Steele on Carolina Cat. For now here are a couple of pics from WC. It was good Stream fishing....more to come
Capt. Brant McMullan
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Brant McMullan

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No doubt, the day syarted out just plain rotten. But it did get better by afternoon. It was nice enough for Wally Trayah to get some back water fishing in. So buy yourself an OIFC sweatshirt and your child too, book one of our charters and get in on some of this cool front action.
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Capt. Rickey Beck

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If you've ever woken on Saturday morning and flipped on ESPN you've watched Jose Wejebe Capt. Of the Spanish Fly and host of his own T.V. show. He was killed today in Florida when his single engine plane crashed just after takeoff. Sad day for the fishing world bro.
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Capt. Jeff Williamson

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Quick dockside report: both Oifc world cat and Carolina cat were in the stre
am today. Haven't received full report, but believe they were around 100/400
Each boat had multiple wahoo (4 and 3). Also had several tunas and kings.
One wahoo was 58+ and another 43+. one tuna was 31lbs. Good catches all around. Pretty day except it got snotty on the way in. Full report from the crew to come.
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Barrett McMullan

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The flounder are here...they have awakened and started to bite a little. Live minnows of any sort has a good chance at catching a few right now. Mud minnows are the easiest to get as every tackle shop sells them. Tiger minnows are in the surf zone and along the edges of sand bars near low tide. A few finger mullet that made it through the winter can be caught at dead low tide near shallow feeder creek mouths. I have caught a couple of keeper flounder this week on limetreuse ghost and talked to another fellow who had luck on nuclear chicken shrimp. Trout are scattered around, but most of them are on the small side. I would hope as the shrimp start to show, we will see more trout. The redfish seem to be all stuck in the Sunset Beach area right now. Last hour of outgoing tide has been putting on a show near the Sunset Bridge. If you want to get in on the action, you better get there early. Just look for the whole backwater fishing fleet. Bring you some crab! See ya on the water!

In the pictures below...Greg and son Benjiman pose with fresh fried flounder! Beside that Matthew Wilson, son Thomas and daughter Adrienne also pose with two nice flounder. Everyone has enjoyed some great fishing weather and taken home some great eating! Thank you guys for fishing with us!

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After that 2:30 a.m. thunder/lightning storm completely shut down any kinda fish bite today. My party and I fished the river to find nothing. Made the mid morning move down to Tubbs,nothing. Moved to the bridge where the reds have been biting all week. A sure thing. NOTHING. The other 8 boats and myself pulled away I was wondering if anything was going to eat today. Patience is not my strong point. One more move and again a change of the tide. Is there any sweeter sound than a line pulled tight and drag pulling off a reel? The last hour and a half was unreel.
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Capt. Jeff Williamson

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I got a report today of a good bite of Kings with Wahoo mixed that were caught in 100-110 feet of water. That is great news. It means the fish are starting to move inshore. The weather is looking terrible to offshore this weekend (of course), but it looks good Monday (of course), so stick around and let's go fishing.
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Capt. Brant McMullan

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I had some Got-em-on Live bait club members come down and fish with me today. They did what they know best, catch flounder on live bait. Later on in the day John, Ross and Max went out to get back on some more reds and flounder.
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Capt. Jeff Williamson

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I have jigging school with 3 open spots this Saturday -- PM class is Friday around 6:30-7:30 with fishing all day Saturday -- if you have interest call 910 575 3474 - cost is $450 per person -- 3 spots currently open.